International and EU climate change policy has evolved over the last five decades. Over that time international leaders met to agree how to address the threats posed by climate change. The first international conference, hosted by the United Nations (UN), was the 1972 Stockholm Conference. These meetings are known as the Conference of the Parties (COP) and are held every year, the last was in 2019 in Madrid, the next is 2021 in Edinburgh, postponed by a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The COP is the supreme decision-making body of the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which sets the framework by which all governments work collaboratively to tackle the problems posed by climate change. Almost every country in the world is a member of this group. It came into being on 21 March 1994 and it instructs its member governments on issues such as gatherig and sharing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions data, strategy development, adaptation, financial and technological supports, etc.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the United Nations body for providing the world with regular scientific assessments related to climate change, analysing that data and following deliberation and debate publishing Reports to put forward adaptation and migation options on how to deal with te problems posed by climate change. It was established in 1988 by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO). It doesn't conduct its own research, it reviews and assesses data from thousands of sources and draws its all together. Since the publication of the First IPCC Assessment Report in 1990 there have been five others and the next one, the 6th Assessment Report which has been delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and is now due to be published mid-2021.
International Institute for Sustainable Development: Reporting Services (IISD-RS) gives an oveview of the history and progress of climate talks, including bulletins during and after each meeting.
Interative Timeline: A Guide to Climate Change Negotiations
United Nations|Act Now - climate action information for the individual
